• La Strega Bruciata Viva: Hugely popular actress Gloria (Silvana Mangano) hides away from her fame in the chalet of her best friend Valeria (Annie Girardot), but even there she's treated like the image she's become rather than the woman she is, so women let her feel their jealousy rather openly while men, including Valeria's husband (Francisco Rabal) lust after her ...
• Senso Civico: A female motorist (Mangano again) volunteers to drive the victim of an accident (Alberto Sordi) to a hospital, but might have her own ulterior motives for doing so ...
• La Terra Vista dalla Luna: After the death of their wife/mother, father (Totò) and son (Ninetto Davoli) are looking for a replacement that might please them both - but that's easier said then done, until they meet a deaf-mute beauty (Sivana Mangano). But this unity comes with its own set of problems ...
• La Siciliana: A Sicilian woman (yep, Silvana Mangano) confides to her father that a man might have looked at her the wrong way - which causes a serial bloodbath, just to have her honour unspoilt ...
• Una Sera come le Altre: The marriage of Giovanna (one more time Silvana Mangano) and Carlo (Clint Eastwood) has grown somewhat stale over the years, and despite constant hints, Giovanna can't make Carlo understand that - so she more and more retreats to her fantasy world where she's an adored superstar, has her revenge on him, and meets up with comicbook heroes Flash Gordon (Angelo Santi), Diabolik (Gianni Gori), Mandrake (Paolo Gozlino), Sadik (Franco Moruzzi) and Batman (Pietro Torrisi) ...

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The Witches sure is a weird and weirdly conceived anthology inasmuch as the five segments of the movie have little in common other than their lead Silvana Mangano, wife of the film's producer Dino De Laurentiis. Of course, the supposed underlying theme is the role of women in society, but that can then be said about almost every film involving a woman, so it doesn't particularly stick here. Anyways, the result is a bit on the uneven side to be sure, especially since it blends heavy drama with broad comedy, adds sparkles of surrealism to some of its tales while others are morality tales - so no, the film is no masterpiece ... but quite fascinating all the same as it shows many of its participants on rather unexpected territory, to make this a must-have footnote for fans of pretty much any of the involved, and a rather wonderful and beautifully shot walk down nostalgia lane for all fans of vintage Euro cinema on top of that.

Not great in the traditional sense of the word, but definitely worth your time.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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